How to Create a Flower House

By Sylvie Greil

Flower power isn’t merely a vintage buzzword but an ingenious drive behind a project giving new life to the abandoned houses of Detroit. Florist/artist Lisa Waud, the mastermind behind the flowerhouse project, will tackle a 16-room, dilapidated Detroit building and bring it back to life “from head to toe” with flowers and other plants and foliage. It will require circa 100,000 of pieces of plant life, and help via florists from around the country – with one designer per room overseeing the blooming proliferation on walls, in nooks and crannies and wherever they feel inspired to create fecund life.

After the floral art project in October 2015 concludes, the former home will be sustainably demolished and give way to an American-grown flower farm. Wilted flowers from the installation will turn into mulch, and nonprofit Reclaim Detroit will salvage most of the demolition pieces of the building.

Says Waud, who was inspired by renowned French wrap artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude: “The hope [is] that this deconstruction and land re-purposing will inspire others to see abandoned structures as platforms for art and business, and to use them in an environmentally responsible way.”

This is in response to the city of Detroit’s bleak housing situation, with half the area’s houses boarded up and in desperate states.

Waud had a trial run in May 2015, which will give you a visual idea of what’s in store.

Whether you lack the funds to renovate your old home or simply want to add some plant life to your already pretty perfect abode, we think Waud’s project is both inspirational and doable on a small scale in our own lives. Take a tour.